


SWAMPed

by Koneia



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-08
Updated: 2012-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koneia/pseuds/Koneia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A surprise shore leave horribly gone wrong ... or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	SWAMPed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KJaneway115](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=KJaneway115).



> Written for the VAMB Secret Drabble 2012 challenge for KJaneway115, who provided the wonderful first line "How do you ever expect me to trust you again?". I immediately saw our intrepid couple splattered all over with mud. Don't ask why...
> 
> Many thanks to GSlovesvoyager again for your awesome beta-reading and support!
> 
> I still don't own Star Trek or any of it's characters :(

 

 

 

 

**"How do you ever expect me to trust you again?"** As if to underscore her bad mood a bubble of the swamp popped open with a lazy zing, releasing a knee-weakening, eye-watering, foul rotten-egg like odour which made it almost impossible to sustain her death glare’s intensity directed at the miserable looking man before her. She had yet to decide whether she was to throttle her second in command, hug the agony out of him or just break out in laughter at the sheer absurdity of life.

 

“Kathryn, it is not _that_ bad.”

 

Janeway just arched an eyebrow. Even to him the response must sound shallow. He sighed in defeat.

 

“Okay, I admit. It is _that_ bad. And yes. I shouldn’t have coerced you into this surprise shore-leave. But you know as well as I do that you urgently needed some vacation. This planet was the only opportunity within light years and even the crew supported …”

 

His eyes suddenly widened in horror, and on following his view to a small watery part of the swamp directly besides them, she spotted a bunch of bubbles gracefully appearing on the surface. Grabbing each other and their bags, they sprinted along a solid part of the terrain as fast as they could. A soft hiss followed by a strong putrid scent announced the bubbles bursting.

 

“Kathryn, I _am_ sorry. It must have been a translation problem. Moor bath, mudbath, swamp …” Chakotay continued to ramble behind her.

 

“Commander, what exactly did you request from the Nasuthrians?” She stopped walking.

 

“I asked for a place with a unique atmosphere and breath-taking scenery.” Biting in her lower lip to stifle her laughter, she turned around to face him, right in time to witness as understanding hit home. “Oh spirits.”

 

She couldn’t help but to break into hysterical laughter.

 

“Chakotay, … you … you’ve booked a… SWAMP?” she managed to say between spasms.

 

Uncomfortably he tugged his ear. “Apparently I did.”

 

Wiping tears from the corner of her eyes she shook her head in amusement. “Alright. What else _should_ I know?”

 

“The communicator able to penetrate the natural shielding of this planet was in the bag.”

 

“You mean the bag we lost in the swamp directly after the Nasuthrians beamed us down?”

 

“The very bag.”

 

“Darn.”

 

“And _Voyager_ is on order to interrupt us in the next fourteen hours only in case of an emergency.”

 

“Oh my.” Laying her hand on his chest, she looked at him with soft eyes. “We are in trouble again my friend, aren’t we?”

 

Chakotay gently cupped her cheek. “Seems so, Kathryn…” His voice trailed off and he studied her face intently. This time the weakness in her knees was not the consequence of the surrounding malodour. “Did I mention that the Nasuthrians recommended using the local accommodations and that we haven’t packed anything for an outdoor overnight stay?”

 

“Oh… my.” Resting her forehead on his chest in resignation, she mumbled. “What else should I know what you haven’t told me yet?”

 

“Maybe we should find first our ‘local accommodation’ for the night before we discuss that. It’s getting darker already.”

 

 

~~~

 

 

“Mmmm Kathryn, I agree. This particular nightgown is not suitable as a blanket.”

 

If it hadn’t been that embarrassing, Janeway would have considered the sight of her grinning mud-splattered first officer holding her sultry nightgown in midst of a swamp to be surreal. At least his temper had improved a little, but her mood had now finally reached hazardously suboptimal levels.

 

Whipping the silky nothingness angrily off his hand, she inwardly cursed circumstances. Yes, he was secretly supposed to admire it at some point later on this shore leave, and actually she’d intended the gown to play a pivotal role in pushing their recently deepened friendship toanother level. But the equation had neither included the underwhelming setting of a swamp nor a royally pissed first officer.

 

She decided to change topics.

 

“Apart from what I would have authorized, what did you trade to this Delta Quadrant equivalent of the Ferengi to arrange the shore leave?”

 

Avoiding her look, he continued to prepare their sleeping place, a small elevated region of dry land surrounded by a few stones, with the few clothes they’d packed.

 

“Chakotay?”

 

He groaned edgily. “They were very interested in Harry’s clarinet and … the trance stimulating effects of my Akoonah.”

 

With hands on her hips, Janeway stared at him furiously. “You’ve traded your Akoonah? Are you out of your mind? Have you any idea how many months it will take you to gather the rations and replicate a new one? Hell, Chakotay, I don’t want you to ever sacrifice your spiritual health for a shore leave again! This isn’t worth it!”

 

Throwing his bag onto the ground, he turned around and fixed on her with angry eyes.

 

“Yes, Kathryn, I have a fairly good idea how many rations it’ll take and as I’ve said before, the crew is supporting this. Besides it’s none of your business what I am doing with _my_ Akoonah. We both got very close again lately and I thought,” he took a deep breath, **”** no, I’d hoped that we could discuss parameters on this shore-leave anew. And because I intend to spend the rest of my life with you, yes, I think this was worth trading the Akoonah!”

 

“So the whole crew knows that you are proposing to me tonight?”

 

“Kathryn, I was not going to propose to you tonight.”

 

“You already did.”

 

“No, I did not. I just told you that I wanted to talk to you about redefining parameters and then… Wait a minute.” He glared at her. “Am I just arguing with you whether I have proposed to you or not?”

 

She cocked an eyebrow. “Seems like that, Commander.”

 

“Don’t you think we’ve skipped some vital parts in this conversation, Captain?”

 

“Like what, Commander?”

 

“Like you agreeing to redefining parameters, declaring your undying love for me and kissing me half-senseless before I feel the urge to propose to you in a _swamp_?”

 

“What happened to your contrary nature, Commander? Or is the reverse mode of you proposing, me kissing you half-senseless, then declaring my undying love and agreeing to redefine parameters too dangerous for you?”

 

“You dare me?” He came closer to her, in fact so close that she could feel his warm breath feathering on her lips. His voice was dangerously low. “Very well then, Kathryn, consider the proposal to be valid. And remind you, I am a very, _very_ sensual individuummmmmmmmmmmmhh…”

 

Despite coping with a first stunned, then all the more very willing first officer, part of her brain still registered that the term ‘half-senseless’ was very inappropriate for this kiss. Certainly, some of her senses like those registering the rotten swamp smell definitely lost priority. But the majority of her senses were increasingly aware of the sensations her own hands perceived and someone else’s caused. After a while, even those parts of her brain thinking these thoughts lost focus.

 

Struggling for air they parted. “Kathryn, may I interpret that as a yes?”

 

The soft tingling of _Voyager_ ’s transporters prevented her from answering and as the swamp’s twilight changed to the harsh light of the transporter room, she found herself resting her forehead on Chakotay’s chest in resignation for the second time on this day. This crew definitely _had_ a knack for bad timing.

 

Stiffening, Chakotay growled to nobody in particular. “I take this is a case of emergency? Because, if it’s not and the fourteen hours haven’t passed since we’ve been beamed down, I really feel inclined to throttle someone.”

 

“Ummm, Commander.” Neelix’s voice sounded nervous. “We scanned the coordinates and found out that the Nasuthrians had beamed you down to a swamp and we decided to get you out as soon as possible and …”

 

Gently pulling Chakotay away from her, Janeway faced the stammering Talaxian. “It was a nice and cosy swamp. So before I follow the Commander’s example to throttle someone, I suggest I’d better resume my vacation.”

 

Neelix was not the only one staring at her in disbelief. It took a bit before someone regained composure and activated the transporters.

 

 

~~~

 

She’d never anticipated it happening in a swamp. But apparently this was it, the moment her life was changing again to an unknown direction. Somehow she’d expected this moment to be defined by all sorts of overwhelming emotions.

 

Yet she was simply swamped with peace as she met his eyes.

 

“Logic dictates Commander, that since I’ve proceeded from step one of the dare ‘proposing’ to step two ‘half-senseless kissing’ you can safely interpret my answer as a ‘yes’. But …”

 

While soft lips rendered further verbal communication superfluous and the pale moon of the Nasuthrian homeworld shone on floating sulphurous clouds, a blanket and a bottle of wine materialised besides the entangled alien couple. At the same time the stock of champagne bottles on _Voyager_ was drastically reduced. Whether these events are connected or not, has to remain open to speculations.

~~~THE END~~~


End file.
